Along with an increase in display size and screen size, there is a growing possibility that the displays are used not only for program viewing and information browsing but also for new usages such as simultaneous use of a plurality of pieces of information, browsing of a massive amount of information, and an electronic advertising system which displays advertisement on a display.
Moreover, an instruction input device is known for allowing a user to input information, with respect to a large screen display, from a location away from a display screen with the use of a coordinate input device held by the user or a pointing action.
In this kind of device, it is not easy for the user to move the coordinate input device held by the user or hands dexterously in order to point any position on the display screen. In the case where several people are using the devices at the same time, a shift to any position is often restricted by another user. Especially, it is significantly difficult for the user to perform an instruction input on a separated place on the screen. Therefore, it is desirable that an operation method is adopted for pointing any location on the display without moving in front of the display screen and with an easy operation.
In such a situation, with respect to the above described problem, an operation method for enabling an instruction input on any position with ease even from a separated place is proposed. A method is known for moving a pointer to a gaze point on the screen when gazing at the screen for a predetermined time or longer and for relatively moving the pointer from the position with an input device (refer to Patent Literature 1). Moreover, there is a technique for allowing for operating the whole screen with the use of a coordinate input device which can switch between an absolute input and a relative input and enhancing operability by estimating an operation plane in which the user is moving the coordinate input device in the space (refer to Patent Literature 2). Furthermore, it is known that there is a device which holds a means for switching to a mode of reducing an amount of movement of a pointer with respect to the movement of the coordinate input device, based on the moving state of the pointer on the display screen (refer to Patent Literature 3).